the past is remembered and the present is lived
by WinglessCrows
Summary: Tama doesn't believe that Ace could be dead. Clearly Luffy is lying. To make her believe, he tells her a story.


**New chapter gave me feels so I wrote this :)**

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Luffy's heart does a little backflip in his chest when he recognizes the person ahead, and turns to ride to him at full speed. Luffy smiles wide as he calls out to his swordsman, and Zoro's smile is just as bright as he sees Luffy coming towards him on a weird looking dog. Luffy doesn't hesitate to literally jump into Zoro's arms as he gets close enough, and Zoro hugs him back, the impact of Luffy's jump not fazing him as he remains standing. They hug for a while until Zoro offers Luffy some food, which he eats despite knowing that it's full of poison (he's immune after all and it seems that Zoro only received some tummy aches after eating it).

"We have to get this girl to a doctor," Luffy tells Zoro and points to Tama, who's still unconscious at the top of the dog.

"Okay," Zoro says, always willing to do whatever Luffy wants, and they both mount the dog again and continue towards the town. After only two short minutes, Tama wakes up again. She doesn't register Zoro, even though he should be in her full view, but again she turns to Luffy and screams at him.

"You're a liar!" She accuses, and Luffy has to remind himself that it's the fever that makes her think that he even has the ability to lie, "He would never break that promise!"

She tries to punch him, but Zoro holds back her weakened arms, while Luffy keeps leading them towards the town. He's told her what she needs to hear, but it might take some time for her to accept it. It certainly took him awhile.

"What's she talking about?" Zoro asks, as he holds her back. She wimps a little, but seems to give up the struggle after awhile.

"Ace promised to come back and take her to the sea," Luffy explains, and Zoro understands.

"You're so cruel," Tama says again, "Why would you lie to me? What do you even know about Ace?"

"More than you," Luffy says without thinking and she begins fighting against Zoro again. They still have some time until they get to town, and Luffy thinks that she can't be this hysterical when they get her to the doctor. Perhaps a story would help.

"How could you possibly know more about Ace than me? I spent a whole month with him. I taught him how to weave hats and he promised me that he would take me with him."

"Ace made a lot of promises he couldn't keep," Luffy interrupts, slightly saddened, he's mostly over it these days, but the hurt of thinking about it will never fade, Luffy thinks.

"Not true," Tama says, possibly cries, "Ace always kept his promises."

"I had two brothers," Luffy begins, starting his story and hoping Tama would listen, "The three of us had different backgrounds. There was Ace, the son of the pirate king. There was Sabo, the son of a nobleman. And there was me, the son of the revolution's leader.

"At the time, I didn't know any of that. When it came to family, I only had my grandpa, but I saw him rarely and he would move me from town to town. I didn't understand why at the time, but he probably did it to keep me safe. Eventually, I ended up in a small town, where I met a pirate captain. Just like you I looked up to him, asked him to take me with him to sea and he made me a promise to come return this hat," Luffy gestures to his strawhat, "When I had finally become a worthy and strong pirate."

"What does this have to do with Ace?"

"Just listen," Zoro tells her, and she shuts up, having more respect for Zoro than Luffy at the moment.

"When that pirate left my town, my grandpa came back and relocated me again. I stayed on the same island, but with a group of mountain bandits. Another one my grandpa had left in their care was Ace.

"At the time, Ace was everything to me. He was strong, independent and cool. Of course, Ace didn't care about me at first, but eventually he did and he introduced me to Sabo. The two of them wanted to become pirates and set out to sea, and since it was my dream too, we all worked towards that goal.

"But, a lot of things happened, and Sabo was taken from us and then died in a shipwreck," Luffy leaves out the part about Sabo not really dying because that would just be confusing, and it isn't the point of the story, "When Sabo died, I was so sad, I cried and I cried for days. Ace was different. He was the older one of us, and so he made me a promise. He promised me that he would never die," Luffy smiles a little at the thought of the promise. It had been a ridiculous promise to make, one Ace could never have fulfilled, but he had said it to cheer Luffy up. To give him hope and make sure he wouldn't cry.

"We made a pact," Luffy continues, "We would set out to sea when we were seventeen. Because Ace was the oldest, he left first and I stayed behind and read about him whenever he made the newspaper, our caretaker even made scrapbooks of all of his deeds and I remember looking through them, hoping that I would be just like him when I finally set out to sea.

"And then, when I was seventeen, I sailed out, and I made my crew and travelled the world, until I got the news that Ace had been captured and was going to be executed. I was supposed to meet my crew in a certain place, but I couldn't give up on the only brother I had left, so I went to the prison where he was held and I tried to save him. When that didn't work, I went to the place of his execution and tried to save him. I would like to think I succeeded. I freed him from his chains and we fought our way through the army that was trying to stop us. I was so close.

"But in the end, he died," Luffy says, his voice strong, "He died saving my life. I didn't want believe it at first, even when I saw the blood and he was saying goodbye. I told him to keep his promise. I told him he couldn't leave me," Luffy bites his lip, "But that's not how life works. And sometime bad things happen, and the only thing you can do is move on and look at what you still have."

"But he was your brother," Tama says, crying, "Your only brother, if what you say is true, then what do you still have left?"

Luffy looks to Zoro and smiles: "My friends."


End file.
